The present invention relates to the preparation of mustard flour which has a high protein content and which is characterized by removing the pungency and fatty material from mustard seeds.
Generally, spices are used for their masking effects which mask the smell of food and enhance its taste in addition to providing pungent effects. In the case of ordinary mustard, for example, as used for grilling, cooked vegetables, cooked fish, meats etc., it is mainly used for its pungency; however, white mustard used for salad, sauces etc. is selected more for its taste than pungency.
The pungency of mustard is a result of an active enzyme, myrosinase, which is generated by adding water to the mustard. The myrosinase hydrolyzes to form glycoside sinigrin and allyl isothiocyanates. Heretofore, when the mustard was employed as a masking material, the following procedure was used to remove its pungency. Namely, after grinding mustard seed to form flour, a quantity of water is added to the ground seeds so as to promote the hydrolysis reaction of myrosinase to generate pungency and then, to remove the pungency thereafter, the ground mustard seed is subjected to drying for preparing the product.
However, when following the conventional procedure described above, mustard flavor is liable to be destroyed because water is added to the mustard seed after grinding it. Moreover, the aforesaid conventional prior art procedure takes too long to be economical when first treating the ground mustard seed with water and then removing its pungency. Furthermore, it is troublesome to add water to the mustard flour, and then dry it again.